Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a surgical stapling apparatus for applying surgical staples to body tissue and, more particularly, to a surgical stapling apparatus for performing circular anastomosis of hollow tissue structures which includes reusable components.
Background of Related Art
Anastomosis refers to the surgical joining of separate hollow tissue sections. Typically, an anastomosis procedure follows surgery in which a diseased or defective section of a hollow tissue structure is removed, thus requiring the joining of the remaining end sections of the tissue structure. Depending on the particular procedure being performed and/or other factors, the end sections of the tissue may be joined by circular anastomosis, e.g., end-to-end anastomosis, end-to-side anastomosis, or side-to-side anastomosis.
In a circular anastomosis procedure, two end sections of a tubular organ are joined using a stapling apparatus that drives a circular array of staples through each of the end sections to join the end sections to one another in end-to-end relation and simultaneously cores any tissue within the newly joined hollow tissue structure to clear the passage defined by the hollow tissue structure. A typical circular anastomosis apparatus includes an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end and a staple holding component at a distal end. An anvil assembly including an anvil rod and an attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end of the elongated shaft adjacent the staple holding component. In use, the end portions to be joined are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The clamped end portions are then joined to one another by driving one or more staples from the staple holding component, through the tissue, and into the anvil head to form the staples about the tissue. An example of such a circular anastomosis apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,187 to Milliman, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Typically, surgical stapling apparatus for performing circular anastomosis procedures are disposable after a single use. Because of the high costs associated with the use of disposable surgical stapling apparatus, a need exists for a surgical stapling apparatus that includes reusable components and is configured to facilitate effective sterilization of the reusable components.